Just got a pair of HiFiMan HE-400 yesterday and just tried them with every portable device I have and you have to go 70% or above on the volume, but they sound pretty good, better than I thought they would. All my devices are Apple products and the lowest end was an older Nano.

It might also help to know what you consider "really high end". It might be that what you consider high end includes a huge range of headphones that don't require amps, or your idea of high end may only include ones that really need an amp. Do you have a price range in mind, or a certain style?

EDIT:

(I realize you mention Grados and IEMs, so you must not only be thinking about LCD-3 and Abyss type stuff :-D.)

high end to me is a headphone that sounds fantasic and ushly costs alot of money i suppose. It could be headphones that need a amp or not. The thing im simply trying to find out is there really good headphones out there that are in the said price range ( which ill show you in a minute) that dont really need a amp. Because most of the heaphones that iv seen that cost 1k or more (exscludeing IEM's) ushly need some sort of amplification to sound decent or reach of good volume to hear correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GL1TCH3D

OP, what do you consider high end? (or was this answered and am I just derping?)
For me the lcd2 is mid-high end. I wouldn't class it with top contenders

ill give you my little mental break down of the price tree here that i just use in my head. ill skip the lower levels and show you the ones that count in this situitation. In my mind, high end for me is like 900-2300 or so anything above that in my head is the top of the line stuff that makes you cry when you look at you dying helpless wallet then promptly makes you have an eargasim once you put on the headphones. for me lcd2 is high end, but i too would not really compare it with higher grade stuff "i call that said stuff summit gear because when you get that far in, your at the top of the mountain and cant get down from that so to speak i guess."

any way to sum this all up im looking for headphones $1000+ " high end to summit" that dont really require an amp to sound good . Note that im just using this for educational purposes only. im not really looking to buy at the moment (im most likeing going to get an lcd2 rev2 with the typical schiit stack DAC+amp basicly". i just wanna know this for the future you know.

I'd say that the Ultrasone Edition 8 sound pretty decent without external amplification. They were designed to be closed, portable, flagship headphones so they sound as good as it's going to get from a smart phone. The only question is if you like its sound signature. Read some reviews and if it sounds like you do then it's probably a safe bet to at least try.